Top stories on 22 December in a capsule

Rohit Sharma scores the fastest century in T20 history

Rohit Sharma on Friday equaled David Miller’s record of hitting the fastest century in T20 history, registering India for a win against Sri Lanka. Rohit’s knock of 118 (43 balls) was studded with 10 sixes and 12 boundaries. India completed an 88-run win over Sri Lanka in the second T20I in Indore. With the win, they also took a 2-0 unassailable lead in the three-match series.

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BJP lies are for everyone to see: Rahul Gandhi on 2G verdict

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday found fault with the foundational structure of BJP, which he claimed was based on lies. "The whole architecture of BJP is about lying. If you see the Modi model in Gujarat it was a clear lie, when we went to Gujarat the people said there is no model, they said what is going on is stealing of people's resources," said Rahul. He was speaking after chairing the first meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the highest decision-making body of the party, as the Congress chief, with his mother Sonia Gandhi seated next to him, alongwith former prime minister Manmohan Singh and other senior members.

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Protests in Himachal to make Dhumal Chief Minister

Supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Prem Kumar Dhumal shouted slogans outside the venue of a party meeting in Shimla on Friday. Dhumal was the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for Himachal Pradesh but he lost the Sujanpur Assembly seat on Monday. Dhumal’s loss has set in motion the party’s search to nominate another chief minister. The BJP may announce the name of the chief minister on Friday. Meanwhile, another group of party workers shouted slogans in support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi outside the same venue. They said that the chief minister should be picked from among the elected MLAs and no one should lobby for anyone.

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BJP retains Vijay Rupani as Gujarat CM, Nitin Patel as Deputy

The BJP on Friday retained Vijay Rupani as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, for the second term. The BJP who had won the Assembly polls in the state, for the sixth time on December 18, has secured 99 seats in the 182 member state assembly, Rupani, who was contesting against Congress’ Indranil Rajguru from Rajkot (west) seat, had won by a vote margin of 53,755. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Nitinbhai Patel, who won the elections from Mehsana seat was also reappointed.

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No CBI investigation on Ashok Chavan in Adarsh Scam: HC

The Bombay High Court on Friday granted relief to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh Housing scam, by refusing a CBI investigation into his alleged role. In February 2016, Governor C Vidyasagar Rao had granted sanction to the CBI to initiate a probe against Chavan and to prosecute him for criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). However, in 2013, Rao’s predecessor K Sankaranarayanan had restrained the CBI probe. The court in its verdict advised Rao to ‘to review or reconsider’ the earlier decision of the erstwhile the decision of the former Governor. Addressing the media, Ashok said, “The governor had been politically motivated to sanction CBI probe against me, and he should be sued for that.”

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Women set on fire by jilted lover in Secunderabad

In a shocking incident of jilted love in Secunderabad, a 25-year-old woman in died as she was set on fire by a colleague, whose advances she had rejected, on Friday. The victim, identified as Sandhya Rani, was working in an aluminum fabrication unit, along with the accused Karthik for over two years. “His advances had been rejected, upon which he threw petrol on her on Thursday evening and set her ablaze in full public view,” the police said. Acting on the statements of eyewitnesses Karthik was arrested by the Secunderabad police and case has been registered under Sections 302 (murder), 354 (sexual harassment), 354 D (stalking) and SC/ST Atrocities Act as Sandhya was from the Mala community.


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Around 40 women rescued from Delhi's Rohini Ashram

Around 40 women were rescued from an ‘ashram’ run by an alleged god-man in the national capital, by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) and The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on Friday. The Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya ashram was being operated by Virendra Dev Dikshit, who had ‘trapped’ and illegally confined about 16,000 women from all age groups. Chief of DCW, Swati Maliwal said, “"We also came across lots of medicines stocked up which we are sure were being given to these girls as they seemed to be in a trance when we rescued them". The Delhi High Court on Tuesday had directed the DCW, Delhi Police and two senior lawyers to inspect all of the 8 ashrams that belong to Baba Virendra.

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US court rejects Trump’s transgender ban 

A federal appeals court in Virginia has rejected President Donald Trump’s appeal to delay the recruitment of transgender’s into the military. In a two-paragraph order, the three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that it is denying the administration's request to delay the Jan. 1 deadline, without further explanation, reported the Hill. The United States Defense Department has allowed the military to begin accepting transgender recruits starting January 1 next year, following a federal court ruling in the matter.


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Dalal Street enjoys Christmas season by attaining record highs

Indian equity benchmarks rose to record highs led by a gain in technology heavyweights such as Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys. BSE Sensex closed higher by 184 points to 33,940.30, while the Nifty rose 52 points to close at 10,493. Infosys Ltd shares rose as much as 2.23% to Rs1,044 its highest since 20 October 2016. The Sensex had lost 80 points in the past two sessions. ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Airtel were other top gainers, whereas Hero MotoCorp, Coal India and Tata Steel were the major losers. 


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Salman Khan rules Forbes list as highest earning Indian actor

Salman Khan has managed to retain the title of the highest-earning actor in India. With his revenue earnings in Rs 232.83 crore revenue, Khan has moved ahead of fellow actors Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar and Ranveer Singh. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli is the highest earning cricketer with 100.72 crores and Priyanka Chopra is the Indian actress with 68 crores, to make it in the top 10 list.
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Bitcoin sees a 30% slip from record peak

Bitcoin briefly dropped below $14,000 on the Bitstamp exchange on Friday. The cryptocurrency went down roughly 30 percent. This comes after Bitcoin set a record $20,000 high at the start of the week. "Keep in mind that bitcoin has gone up a lot this year, so a correction is always likely," said Shane Chanel, equities and derivatives adviser at ASR Wealth Advisers in Sydney. Bitcoin was valued at $1000 at the start of the year.

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